[Talk about the '46 season. Excitement? Disappointment?]

CLYDE SUKEFORTH: A lot of guys spend their whole career without ever getting on a championship club. Good ballplayers. One guy can't do it alone. And by the same token, a lot of guys get shifted around and go from one pennant winner to another.

[Talk about the rally that fell short in the final game of the playoffs]

They had the three-game playoff. I saw the deciding game. I'd been out on the road, scouting somewhere, and I got in about the second or third inning by the time I got back. I saw the finish of that game. [Ralph] Branca, incidentally, was charged with that loss, too.

[What was your involvement with Jackie Robinson in '46?]

I don't know that I saw him more than twice. Two or three times, maybe. I don't think that the Robinson part is a big deal at all. I got a lot of credit that I don't deserve. I mean, I didn't do anything. I didn't do anything that anybody free of prejudice couldn't have done or wouldn't have done. I mean, I treated him just like I would any other human being. I knew at first he didn't know anybody. I was the only guy he knows at first, and if he wants to talk, why, I'm tickled to death to listen and try to give him a little encouragement now and then. But who wouldn't? I mean, you knew the guy was an outstanding ballplayer, or was going to be, anyway. But, when you win, you're a hero, and when you lose, you're a bum.

[So you didn't scout him in the Negro Leagues?]

I never saw him play until '46, when he joined us in spring training in Sanford [?], in the spring of '46, when we had all those good kids coming back from the war. That's the first time I ever saw Robinson in a uniform.

[Did you do other scouting in the Negro Leagues in '45 or '46?]

I was, in '45, I was with the club through spring training, and then I caught a few games, but then I went right back to my regular job scouting. There's always places to go, I mean, they've got a lot of guys to be looked at. If you drop by the office, you won't have any trouble getting an assignment.

Over in Pittsburgh, Sam Nevin [?] and I lived right within a few blocks from Forbes Field, so we, there was a restaurant right near the ballpark. We'd go down there and get our breakfast, and go over to the ballpark and pick up our mail. We'd always have three or four ballplayers to be looked at every morning. In fact, we knew that, it was just a question of how many. Then, we'd go back, have a shower, have a little lunch maybe, then go back and lounge around the room, and go out for a night game. Now you've got some more boys to look at. So-and-so came in from Ohio with a couple of pitchers, a couple of infielders. Get back out early. We put in the hours, but why not. I mean, I wasn't married, and, at first, I got married after the first year in Pittsburgh, but we had nothing to do, and I enjoyed it. When I'm away from home, I like to be busy.

[You mentioned that '47 was one of the better managing jobs anybody ever did]

The record speaks for itself. We didn't have a veteran starting pitcher. Branca was the nearest thing to it, and he was just a boy. I mean, Branca, I think, was 21 years old and he won 21 ballgames, if I remember. The only veteran pitcher was [Hugh] Casey. Thank God for Casey.

[And a lot of the big power hadn't arrived yet, either?]

We had some good boys. [Joe] Hatten and little [Vic] Lombardi were two lefthanders and both of them were better than fair pitchers. [Hal] Gregg, of course, he was an outstanding young pitcher. [Hank] Behrman. [Chris] Van Cuyk.

[That was another tight pennant race, like '46?]

Yeah. We pulled away from 'em though that last month.

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